Lawrence Siulagi » Green

Forget about your Blackberrys, try the Blueberries

Lawrence Siulagi — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:12:42 +0000

Hold the smartphone, Oregon blueberries have gone wireless.

Oregon Berry Packing, a family-owned business based in Hillsboro, is one of many growers using new wireless sensor technology to monitor crop conditions in real time.

Technological advances in crop management from companies like Onset Computer Corporation have given rise to the use of wireless sensors, or data loggers, which can provide valuable feedback to the grower, like temperature and soil conditions.

The grower could modify their irrigation based on the data or alerted to extreme conditions of nature like frost.

Foreclosures begone? Spray your lawn!

Lawrence Siulagi — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:51:04 +0000

Foreclosures in California are growing faster than weeds in spring in Oregon but during these hard, economic times, grows a curious niche: spraying dead lawns with biodegradeable paint to make them look lush and verdant.

Design: Tilley Enterprises

Lawrence Siulagi — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:05:43 +0000

This is a website I designed for an environmentally-friendly painting service based here in Portland. I bartered for some interior painting – which is a good thing in these economic times.

I designed the site using WordPress and a modified K2 theme. The slow panning banner images use javascript and panoramas of the client’s work shot by the client.

For the animated image above, I used ScreenFlow to record a .mov file which I imported into Adobe ImageReady and exported as an animated GIF.

*Virus-Infected Batteries Not Included

Lawrence Siulagi — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:51:22 +0000

This could be a label in the future of battery-powered gadgets. Okay, maybe not. Even so, the geniuses at M.I.T. have developed a genetically-engineered virus which infests a harmless bacteria to create a smaller, longer-lasting battery which

…could hold the promise of relatively inexpensive, nonpolluting, lightweight powerful batteries—a holy grail for an energy revolution.

But, how does it work? Glad you asked. According to Scientific American, all bacteria consist of

…a single cell, although they’re rarely found in isolation. They have a habit of exhibiting unique behaviors when there are enough of them together in once place, such as the formation of protective biofilms.

The silver-disc in this photo is a virus-built battery used to power an LED.

Still with me? A battery has two essential parts: anode and cathode (picture the “+” and “-” on your typical battery). A few years back, the scientists simulated the anode part by infecting a bacteria with a virus which produced a coating of cobalt oxide and gold.

This month, researchers announced they reproduced the cathode part (by making iron phosphates grab onto carbon nanotubes).

While this new technology may induce visions of viruses and bacteria spreading to humans, did I mention the bacteria is harmless to humans? If it’s any comfort, the batteries you put in your remote control now are purely chemical reactions.

Welcome to the future of energy.

UPDATE: For you nanotech fans, read about MIT’s research on batteries the size of cells.

Le’ko of my LEKO

Lawrence Siulagi — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:46:57 +0000

Are you ready for the new line of eco-friendly cars from… IKEA? Quoi?

Apparently, this has the backing of the WWF no, not the World Wrestling Federation but the World Wildlife Fund.

But a NYT article is placing its bets on “Practical Joke” as the release date is, you guessed it: April Fools Day.

Le’go of my LEG-oh.

UPDATE 4/1: Mais, oui. It was a publicity stunt — quelle surprise! — to promote IKEA’s carpooling service in France.